Stephen Colbert's Interview With James Talarico Was Prohibited From Airing by CBS

Although Stephen Colbert's relationship with CBS isn't officially over until May, it's fair to say that things are already testy. During the Feb. 16 broadcast, Colbert explained that CBS had prevented him from airing an interview he'd conducted with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.

Colbert explained James's absence on the Feb. 16 show, and while he didn't air the interview, he did post it on YouTube. Here's what we know about why he was prevented from airing it.

Speaking about his interview with the Democratic Senate candidate, Colbert explained that he was strongly advised not to air it.

“He was supposed to be here, but we were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast,” he explained.

Colbert then explained that he was also told he shouldn't address James's absence from the show.

“Then I was told, in some uncertain terms, that not only could I not have him on, I could not mention me not having him on. And because my network clearly doesn’t want us to talk about this, let’s talk about this," he said. “You might have heard of this thing called the ‘equal time rule,’ OK?" the late-night host continued.

"It’s an old FCC rule that applies only to radio and broadcast television — not cable or streaming — that says if a show has a candidate on during an election, they have to have all that candidate’s opponents on as well," he added. “There’s long been an exemption for this rule, an exception for news interviews and talk show interviews with politicians. Now, that’s crucial."

“But on Jan. 21 of this year, a letter was released by FCC chairman and smug bowling pin, Brendan Carr," Colbert explained. "In this letter, Carr said he was thinking about dropping the exception for talk shows because he said some of them were ‘motivated by partisan purposes.’ Well, sir, you’re chairman of the FCC, so FCC you. Because I think you are motivated by partisan purposes yourself. Sir, ya smelt it ’cause ya dealt it. You are Dutch-ovening America’s airwaves.”

Colbert then said that, really, all this was motivated by President Trump's desire to keep his opponents off the airwaves. And, because his show has already been canceled, it's clear that Colbert didn't care all that much about defying CBS or the FCC. Instead, he both addressed the fact that the interview was not airing and then released it online.

The interview itself is fairly anodyne. Talarico is a Democrat but a fairly conventional one, albeit one who makes religion central to his argument about treating people fairly. CBS didn't prevent Colbert from airing the interview because of anything Talarico said, but because he's a prominent Democratic politician running for a statewide office in Texas. For CBS, that was apparently enough of a reason.